Skubal, Tigers agree to $10.15M deal to avoid arbitration (source)

The Tigers came to an agreement with six of their arbitration-eligible players, including American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, ahead of Thursday’s deadline to exchange salary numbers for a potential hearing.

Skubal, Casey Mize, Jake Rogers, Will Vest, Jason Foley and Matt Vierling all agreed to one-year contracts for the 2026 season, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand and other reports. The club has not confirmed the deals, and one player still needs to settle on a salary or risk going to a hearing: Reliever Beau Brieske.

A source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that Skubal will make $10.15 million in his second year of arbitration. That’s a lofty $7.5 million raise from his $2.65 million salary in 2024, and well deserved after winning the Cy Young and Triple Crown with a 2.39 ERA across 31 starts. The first-time All-Star went 18-4 last season while leading the Majors in strikeouts with 228, establishing himself as the Tigers’ ace and one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Skubal, 28, will be eligible for salary arbitration for the third and final time after the 2025 season. After the ‘26 season, unless the Tigers sign him to a long-term extension, he’ll become a free agent.

Feinsand also reported that Rogers’ deal is worth $2.64 million and that Mize will make $2.34 million in ‘25. The Tigers unsurprisingly declined Mize’s $3.1 million club option in November to put the right-hander back in arbitration. Mize returned to the mound in ‘24 following Tommy John surgery and posted a 4.49 ERA across 102 1/3 innings. The option was a secondary piece to a deal that came together to avoid an arbitration hearing over a $25,000 difference in salary proposals. This winter, Mize won’t have to go through that again.

According to various reports, the Tigers settled with Vest at $1.4 million, Foley at $3.15 million and Vierling at $3.005 million.

Players who have three or more years of Major League service but less than six years of Major League service become eligible for salary arbitration if they do not already have a contract for the next season. If the club and player did not agree to a salary by Thursday afternoon, the two parties had to exchange salary figures for the upcoming season and schedule a hearing before a panel of arbitrators for February.

Typically many teams, including the Tigers, do not continue negotiations with the player ahead of that hearing with one notable exception: They’ll make a deal after exchanging figures if it’s a multi-year contract. That’s what happened with Mize last year.

At the hearing, a panel of arbitrators hears arguments from both the player’s representation and the club and then selects either the salary figure of either the player or the club as the player’s salary for the upcoming season.